


Home

by Brunhild



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: Gen, Vikings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-01-12 03:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1181338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brunhild/pseuds/Brunhild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Athelstan begins to wonder whether the place he thought of as home was really home or is home his new surroundings and the people that have adopted him into their world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

Athelstan sat quietly by the stream as Ragnar Lothbrok and his brother Rollo fished nearby. The day was sunny and warm, a great day for an outdoor activity such as fishing. Bjorn and Gyda were talking with some other young people nearby. Lagertha had not come on this fishing trip. She had gotten behind on her weaving during the recent raids and she had stayed behind today to work on the loom. Athelstan had preferred to stay behind on the farm but Ragnar had insisted that he come fishing with him, Rollo and the children. Reluctantly, Athelstan had picked up a fishing pole and pretended to fish. Rollo came over to Athelstan and sat down on a nearby rock.  
"Priest, you can't fish with no bait on that line."  
"I guess I just forgot" Athelstan said as he fumbled for a bit of pork packed in a small cup.  
"It looks like your mind is miles from here, what is on your mind Athelstan" asked Rollo. Why had Rollo started a conversation with him? Athelstan did not care for Rollo and he knew Rollo did not like him, so why would he start a conversation with him he wondered. Athelstan hated talking to Rollo today or any day. He swallowed and forced himself to answer Rollo. "I was thinking about home."  
"Home?" laughed Rollo.  
"Yes, I did have one of those at one time" Athelstan snapped. Athelstan immediately realized his mistake of snapping at Rollo. Rollo surprised at the young priest's sudden anger repositioned himself on the rock on which he had been sitting. He looked at the young man and realized that he knew nothing at all about his brother's slave.  
"So where was your home?" Rollo asked, suddenly curious about the young priest.  
"My home was in Scotland" answered Athelstan.  
"Scotland, how did you wind up at Lindesfarne then," asked Rollo.  
"I was sent there from Ireland."  
"Why were you in Ireland?"  
" I was in Ireland because that is where the monastery sent me."  
"You priest travel about as much as we North men do" said Rollo as he tossed a rock into the stream.  
" We priest only travel when we are needed at another monastery or when we need to take God's word to other lands."  
"Well if you are from Scotland, how did you wind up at Lindesfarne?" asked Rollo.  
"Well here is what happened. My parents moved to Scotland after they got married."  
"Where were your parents from?" asked Rollo.  
"My parents were from Ireland. They were Irish. My father and mother moved to Scotland because work was scarce in Ireland."  
"How did you become separated from your family, did they give you away?"  
"My family died. My family lived in Scotland many years. My father had a farm there and he did quite well. One year a drought came and it lasted several years. The village where I lived began to suffer because there was very little rain. The crops failed and people began to leave because there was no food. The people that didn't leave were struck by a fever that entered the village. About half of the people died. My parents got sick too. There were six of us children, five boys and one girl. My two older brothers Patrick and Matthew got sick first. Matthew died first, then Patrick. Mother and the baby Miriam got sick next, they died on the same day. My brother Joel died the next week. My brother Seth and I recovered. We were sent to the monastery because father could not afford to care for us any longer. Seth died shortly after he got to the monastery due to a bad heart. Father lived a few more months before he passed away. They say it was grief that caused his death. After father died, I had no place else to go, we had no family in the area."  
Rollo looked at the young man. The young man had suffered a lot in his short life. Rollo tried to understand why Athelstan's god would let this happen.  
" I imagine it was hard for your father to watch his family die and not be able to do anything about it. Why didn't your god stop this thing from happening to your family?" asked Rollo.  
"I don't know Rollo, no one knows the mind of God. It is like that with your gods too isn't it?" asked Athelstan.  
"I suppose it is."  
"Well after my family died, I stayed at the monastery and I was raised by the brothers. There were nuns that stayed near the monastery and they helped to educate me as well."  
"What is a nun?" asked Rollo.  
"A nun is like the female version of what I am--was" replied Athelstan.  
"A female monk?"  
"Yes."  
"Nuns, I suppose they get "none," Rollo mumbled under his breath. Athelstan gave Rollo a strange look.  
"When I got old enough to travel, I went with the brothers to deliver God's message to different lands. This is why I know your language."  
'Where have you been" asked Rollo.  
"I have been to Franca, Rus, Italy, Africa, Greece and Spain"  
"Have you been North before?"  
"No, but we have met North men in the lands South of here."  
"So when did you go to Lindesfarne?"  
"About two years ago after I took my vows."  
"Do you miss Lindesfarne?"  
"Yes."  
"A lot?"  
"Yes, I miss it a lot."  
"Kattaget is not a bad place to live, said Rollo. It does not have a lot of the riches and nice things that England has. This is why we go out and raid other lands."  
" I had wondered about that, why do you do what you do?" asked Athelstan.  
"We raid because we must, answered Rollo. What we don't have, we take it."  
"But why kill? asked Athelstan. If you wanted what you wanted most people would just give it to you, you don't have to kill them."  
"We take and we kill, that way we don't have anyone coming around for revenge. It also acts as a warning not to mess with us." Rollo looked over at Athelstan. Athelstan speechless, continued to fish not looking in Rollo's direction. Rollo broke the silence.  
"Do you like Kattaget?"  
"Most of the time I do. It is not bad living with Ragnar and his family, they are good people. I like being around Bjorn and Gyda, it is like having a brother and sister again." Rollo nodded with Athelstan in agreement. The two men sat in silence for a moment, one wishing the other would say something. Rollo finally spoke.  
"I have lived in Kattaget for a long time now, it is time to try something new."  
"Where would you go?" asked Athelstan.  
"Well I have lived in the North, fought in the East and seen the West. That only leaves the South. I have always wondered what is to the South."  
"The South is about the same as everywhere else" replied Athelstan. " In some ways the people are different, they speak different languages, and eat different foods, but they are basically the same as we are."  
"Maybe we will travel South one day" said Rollo.  
"Yes, maybe so."  
"If you could go home Athelstan, would you go?"  
I really don't know" replied Athelstan. Up until today, I had considered England my home, but now I would have to think about where home is. I was born in Scotland, spent time in Ireland and in England. I really don't know where home would be Rollo, I guess I hadn't really thought about that until you asked me."  
"Why worry about where home is priest, your home is here with us until I tell you otherwise, said Ragnar as he walked toward the two men.  
"I was just trying to find out a few things about your priest," said Rollo.  
"Athelstan's new home is here with us now. Kattaget is his new home, right Athelstan?"  
"Yes Ragnar."  
"Athelstan, find the children and get them ready to go back to the farm." Athelstan gave Ragnar the fishing pole, stood and went further down the hill to where the children had went. Rollo stared at Ragnar.  
"What's wrong Rollo?"  
"I wonder how do you manage to live with a stranger that does not share your ways, belief and things like that."  
"The priest is not so different than us. Living with him is no different than you making rounds to your girlfriend's homes staying with whichever one of them that is willing to put up with you for a night, a few days or however long you decide to stay..." Ragnar laughed.  
"That little brother is totally different" Rollo quickly replied.  
"Why is that different?"  
"It just is" replied Rollo, suddenly annoyed with his brother. Ragnar smirked.  
"Rollo, I had no intention of taking in anyone when I went to England. I had planned to go in, raid, kill if I had too and be gone. But when I met Athelstan, he knew our language, that meant that he knew something about us and how we live. He told me that he had travelled and he knew about other lands. I figured what he knew would prove important to me and it has. He has knowledge of other lands other than England.. He speaks several languages and he is literate. In the time he has been with my family, he has taught the children to read and write, worked my farm and has been a loyal servant anytime I have called on him."  
"Yes, but do you intend to keep him?"  
"For now, answered Ragnar. Athelstan was only allowed to be with his family a short time before they were taken from him. I look at him sometimes with Lagertha and the children, it's almost like he is another one of my children or a little brother."  
"Or a bed companion for you and Lagertha" laughed Rollo.  
"No Rollo, we tried that with him already, he refused. He said that he made a vow to his god never to touch a woman in that way" said Ragnar.  
"Your priest is strange, said Rollo shaking his head. His god is strange too."  
"His God is similar to our gods. He worships one god and we worship many."  
"Is Athelstan your servant or slave?"  
"Does it matter?"  
"Will you give him his freedom? asked Rollo.  
"In time" answered Ragnar as he looked around the area.  
"What if he wants to go back home one day, Ragnar, then what?"  
"Well like he said, where would home be for him? Where would he go?"  
"I suppose you are right" said Rollo.  
"Athelstan is in the best place he can be for right now right here in Kattaget. His presence here benefits the both of us."  
"If you say so" said Rollo gathering the fishing poles and basket of fish.  
"What do you think of my priest?"  
"He is okay, I suppose it is better he lives with you rather than me."  
"Rollo, you are going to be alone forever" teased Ragnar.  
"Maybe so little brother, just so I'm not alone at night" answered Rollo as a sly smile formed on his lips.  
"Are you glad you didn't kill him now?"  
"Yeah, I guess he is not a bad person, considering he is a Christian. The children and Lagertha like him. You say he has provided valuable information for our raids. Who knows, maybe I will get one of those Christian priest one day myself" joked Rollo.  
"Just what would you do with a priest? asked Ragnar.  
"Find a way to go to the South, the priest told me that there were lands to the South of here."  
"That sounds like a good plan, Rollo. Think about this--you the King of the South, me the King of the North, we would be unstoppable!"  
"Yes brother, that would be a great feat" said Rollo as he patted his brother on the back.  
Athelstan walked up to the two smiling men. "We are ready to go back to the farm" said Athelstan.  
"Okay" said Ragnar.  
Athelstan and the children walked ahead of Ragnar and Rollo. The two brothers laughed and talked all the way back home. They made plans and talked like they used to talk as young boys when they dreamed of traveling to other lands. Ragnar and Rollo planned to make those dreams a reality.

~THE END~


End file.
